Karma's Territory was a rather simple place. It was circular shaped, of course, and was clearly but simply demarcated in her own little area of the Celestial Plane. When Karma came here, it was most often alone, to rest and to think. After pacing three circles around the center of her Territory, she laid down and brought her long tail into her muzzle, as she did when she was feeling pensive.
Attempting to think over the recent events in the Garden of Souls, she wondered if there was some greater design or reason for both Karma and Serendipity to attract exemplars. She found her thoughts disquieting; as a Celestial of Order, she found great change to be troubling. Karma was sure that she should have a longer discussion with Destiny about the ramifications of two exemplars showing up simultaneously. But for now, she would relax and try to center herself and her thoughts.
Of course, her peace was not to last. Equally as predictably, it was a Celestial of Chaos that broke her reverie.
She saw him only moments before he was upon her. A telltale cyan flash of speed that indicated Acceleration was rapidly incoming. Karma just managed to get her tail out of her mouth before instinctively gritting her teeth as the lithe white cheetah Celestial abruptly halted right in front of her. His sudden halt sent a burst of wind into the area that blew through her fur. Besides having white fur, Acceleration had a few other unusual traits. The sclera of his eyes were black, and his left pupil was a glowing cyan circle, and his right glowed red. He also had a ball of light that followed the tip of his tail around. He looked exuberant.
"Ah, Acceleration," Karma said dryly as she rose to greet him. "Bringer of news, forerunner of change, harbinger of alerts." She sniffed the air briefly. "Kitten of Chaos."
"I like that last one," Acceleration replied with a grin, his glowing pupils briefly becoming carets. His voice was rich and smooth; easy to listen to.
"I can only imagine you have approached me because you have something to tell me?" Karma continued.
"I do indeed!" Acceleration struck a ready stance on all fours, looking like he could take off at any time. "He has been born! The child has been born!"
"What child?" Karma's brow fell. "Children are born every-"
"The exemplar, Karma!" Acceleration released a pitying laugh. "Serendipity's exemplar! He's been born!"
"Ah," Karma said tersely. "Well, I should hope I'm not the first Celestial to hear the news."
"The third," Acceleration confirmed, nodding. "Serendipity has been watching his mother very closely for the past few days. But, since you two are fairly close, I thought I should tell you next!"
"What do you mean?" Karma narrowed her eyes, her tail drooping. "Serendipity and I aren't 'close'."
"Oh c'mon now," Acceleration smirked, rolling his pupils, which made several rotations in his eyes. "You and Serendipity are nearly as thick as Fortitude and Fervor, and they're both of Chaos!"
"Well, ignoring that drivel, I suppose you have other Celestials to tell?" Karma said impatiently.
"Of course, I do indeed!" Acceleration said, then in a flash of red, he ran directly away from Karma.
Karma stepped out of her Territory and began to walk around, feeling anxious. It was likely that she would get no serenity on this day, of all days.
"Aaagh! Look at him! He's sho cute...!" Serendipity vibrated in midair, elated. She held her paws up to her cheeks and cooed as she saw her exemplar handed over to his mother. Serendipity, Growth, and Fertility were gazing upon the newborn through an astral view-screen.
"Simply adorable," Fertility agreed. She was the "other" lapine Celestial, but she was of Order. She was the Celestial of family and sexuality, and her fur was creamy-colored and rich and fluffy. One of her ears was cocked at a slight, intriguing angle, and she had a substantial, heart-shaped dewlap. She tended to sit up on her hind feet, which also highlighted her wide hips.
"A baby fox! That's pretty cool!" Growth hopped twice in place. His face was struck with sudden curiosity. "Uh, why is he a fox, again?"
"I dunno, but I'm certainly surprised!" Serendipity giggled, reclining back in midair. "So he's off to a good start as far as being my exemplar!" She let her giggling consume her and began to roll around multiple times in the air, ending in an upside-down pose. "Hey Growth, can you use his genetic profile to project what he'll look like when he's older?"
"Sure can!" Growth said, squinting his eyes and opening up another astral projection. His tongue lolled out a bit as a swirl of his power glowed green from his horns and an estimation of the adult form of the fox appeared in a blank space.
Serendipity righted her self and gasped, hanging over dramatically in the air. "Ooh! Handsome!"
"Indeed, though mammals usually don't go around naked on Earth," Fertility said, fluffing her cheeks. "Unless they're procreating, of course."
"Ooh, uh, uh..." Serendipity flailed an arm at Growth. "Put him in a card dealer's outfit! Give him a purple vest!"
Growth laughed. "Okay!" He followed Serendipity's request and the fox's image changed to include this outfit.
"So suave!" Serendipity reared back, holding her hands together, and manifested little heart-shaped fireworks bursting around her head. "Doesn't that just make his green eyes come alive?"
Fertility laughed into a paw. "Indeed, he looks like a treat for any vixen." She turned her attention down to the Earth view-screen. "I'm just glad he has a couple of loving parents. Even in Zootopia, it's important for a predator to have a good family, because they can face hardships from their marginalization."
"If Nick has a good mom and dad, he'll grow up to be a real winner!" Growth said in a determined voice, adopting a brave stance.
"And that name!" Fertility nodded. "Nicholas Piberius Wilde..."
"What about his name?" Serendipity blinked, currently sporting colors that looked very much like the infant fox.
"'Nicholas' means 'victory of the people'," Fertility recalled. "It's a very strong name, and for an exemplar to have that name... it might signal that something grand will become of him!"
"Ooh!" Serendipity said brightly, the sparkles in her eyes rotating. She laughed brightly. "Karma's not gonna like that!"
"What am I not going to like?" Karma asked, slowly stepping into the midst of the three smaller Celestials.
"Oh hi, Karma!" Growth greeted with a grin. "Heh! She always seems to 'come around' when you're talking about her."
"Karma, look! Lookit!" Serendipity flew over to Karma and pointed at the screen. "It's mah baby."
"That's not your baby," Karma muttered. "It's the child of his mother and father- and- wait, he's a fox?" Karma blinked. "How can he be a fox? ...There must be some mistake. Perhaps Destiny got the exemplar's souls mixed up."
"Nuh-uh!" Serendipity shook her head. "Nick's soul was glowing different colors the whole way to Earth! He's definitely mine!"
"Exemplars only rarely match even a similar species of their patron Celestial," Fertility said. "We've taken our forms based on the popular opinions of what animals correspond to what aspects of life we oversee. However, every individual is different."
"Be that as it may..." Karma's eyes shifted around, "it's rather... unnerving that Serendipity's exemplar has drawn from the species pool of my closest followers..."
"Why?" Growth tilted his head. "You an' Serendipity are good friends, aren't you?"
Serendipity lowered her brow and smirked, her paws on her hips as she leaned into Karma. "Yeah, aren't we?"
"Ah..." Karma lifted a fore-paw off the ground, her tail low. "Perhaps I should- perhaps I should talk to Destiny about this situation." Karma turned tail and quickly went off in the direction of Destiny's Domain.
"I mean, aren't we?" Serendipity's smug look evaporated into something like disappointment.
"I think Karma adores you more than she can express," Fertility walked over to her with a gentle smile. "You'll have to give her time. But if you've earned her friendship, which I'm pretty sure you have, you know she'll have no choice but to return it to you. It's her way."
"Okay!" Serendipity gave a suddenly frivolous shrug and went back to looking at Nick being cuddled by his mother.
"Destiny! Destiny...!" Karma entered the giraffe's Domain, but Destiny wasn't there. Karma paced around hesitantly, sniffing the air, and she caught the scent of souls. She rushed over to see Destiny, who was slowly returning to her Domain. "Destiny, we have to talk about the exemplars."
"Well, you aren't going to like this..." Destiny said carefully.
"I've been hearing that too many times today," the bottoms of Karma's eyes came up.
"I've- well," Destiny grit her teeth, looking away. "I've misplaced your exemplar's soul."
"You what?" Karma shrieked. "How!? Souls are drawn to you! What happened to it?"
"Well, it made a break for it while I wasn't paying attention," Destiny explained. "It was nearly beyond the horizon of my sight by the time my eye caught it. You know I'm not a fast Celestial. It could be anywhere by now."
"I cannot believe you are so poor at your job!" Karma growled, baring her fangs at Destiny, who raised her eyebrows in mild surprise. "It's a wonder the Earth isn't full of ghosts by now!"
"Because I misplaced one soul," Destiny lowered her head to look at Karma testily.
"Because you misplaced an exemplar!" Karma shouted. "My exemplar!"
"My my," Destiny raised her head and tilted it upwards. "Look who suddenly cares about her exemplar. Look, Karma, your exemplar's soul is particularly... vivacious, especially for a newborn. I wouldn't worry, though; souls really don't have too much to do here, so since its your exemplar and everything it will likely return... eventually."
"Eventually," Karma repeated with a click of her teeth. "Unbelievable."
"What's with this sudden attitude?" Destiny asked drolly. "I thought you were going to wait until Serendipity's exemplar caused trouble."
"Well, he's already caused trouble by being born a fox," Karma licked at her teeth. "If even his species is unpredictable and capricious, who knows what he'll be capable of as Serendipity's exemplar..."
"Maybe you should go find your own exemplar," Destiny suggested.
"I just might!" Karma growled. "This time, you will send the soul."
"I will, if only because I tire of you hassling me," Destiny grumbled.
Karma turned her muzzle up with a "hmph!" and left. But try as she might, she spent the rest of the day fruitlessly looking for her exemplar's soul while evading questions about just what she was doing. She returned to her own Territory, hoping to find it there, but it was not.
She groaned as she slumped down into a laying position, placing her muzzle on her fore-paws.
It was always troubling when she was beginning to care about something.